JoAnne Bird, whose art is shown here, will be one of four Native American women featured in an art show scheduled to coincide with the Sixth Annual Dakota Homecoming June 6 and 7. Called Honoring Our Women, the show, and the Homecoming, will recognize the special contributions Native American women have made to the world around them. |
Dakota Homecoming to showcase art of Native American women in gallery show
While art may be a window to the soul that created it, Native American art can be a window to the soul of a nation, reflected through the visions of one of its people.
The annual Dakota Homecoming gives the community an opportunity to connect with descendants of the area’s original inhabitants, but a special art show held in conjunction with it will take that connection a step deeper.
Slated to open June 5 at the Blue Heron Gallery and Studio, Honoring Our Women will showcase the work of four acclaimed Native American artists, all women, and all extraordinary at conveying the heartbeat of the Indian nations they come from.
In its sixth year, the Dakota Homecoming will honor women as a theme throughout its festivities, scheduled for June 6 and 7 at Unity Park.
But the show will remain on display through much of June, giving visitors the opportunity to view work acclaimed on a national scale, more likely to be found in a prestigious museum than a small city on the Mississippi River.
Linda Duran, a Winona native, has made a national name for herself as a premier portrait doll creator, with work featured in the Heard Museum in Phoenix and the Smithsonian Shop, among other locations.
After receiving her Bachelor of Science in Art from Winona State University, Duran left for many years, making a home for herself among the Aleut Indians in Alaska.
There she produced over 1,000 portrait doll figures, each one meticulously hand sculpted in organic clay to depict the people and their way of life.
Duran, a member of a Choctaw-Apache tribe in Louisiana, has returned to Winona, but her work remains on display across the country.
Artist Linda Haukaas of the Rosebud Sioux creates intricate paintings using a traditional Native American technique on ledger paper rather than plain white stock.
Also called a pictographic style more commonly associated with male artists, Haukaas’ ledger art adds a feminine voice to work that more often includes pictography of war and the male Native American struggle.
Haukaas, using brilliant images and detail, shows the world through the eyes of Native American women, depicting their struggles, their observations and their way of life.
Haukaas’ work has been shown across the country, received numerous awards, been collected by at least a half dozen museums and been sold by famed auction house, Sotheby's.
Though modern in technique, JoAnne Bird’s paintings are hauntingly spiritual in their portrayal of Native American themes.
Bird, a member of the Dakota tribe, has had the heart of an artist since she was a child, turning to the profession as her lifeblood in 1968. Over the last four decades, her style has earned her national and international recognition for its timelessness and fluid motion.
Bird also sculpts in bronze and has pieces in collections across the United States and Europe. Her work, often larger than life, is on display in the Minnesota State Capitol Building, among other places.
Bird’s numerous awards include being named Artist of the Year and placed in the South Dakota Hall of Fame.
As an educator, Ramona Kitto Stately teaches others about the culture and tradition surrounding Native American moccasins, but as an artist, she shows them.
The Honoring Our Women art show will feature beautifully beaded moccasins created by Stately using techniques and designs handed down for a millennium.
Stately works by day as Director of Indian Education in the Osseo School District, but her free time is spent as a guest speaker and artist sharing the traditions and culture of the Native American people to which she traces her heritage.
Julia Crozier, owner of the Blue Heron Gallery and Studio, said she feels a connection to these women and their heritage, making a show in her studio honoring them an easy fit. “I’m interested in the Native American culture, I’ve read a lot about it, gone out West and visited ruins and reservations,” she said. “This sounded like a good idea and a good way to connect with people.”
As a woman and an artist, Crozier said her connection to these four women runs deeper, and she is interested in getting to know them better during the weekend of the Dakota Homecoming.
But as with any art, Crozier agrees that seeing the art they create is in some ways like knowing them already. “Art is a reflection of your life, your personality, and it encompasses what you think about all day,” she said. Whether idyllic river scenes or compelling images of warriors astride horses, the work is a mirror into the soul, she said. For these Native American artists the soul of their Indian nation runs deep and spans the gamut of ways they can tell the story of their people.
Crozier is expecting at least 25 pieces for the show, which she expects to be on display in her gallery at 168 East 3rd Street through much of the month of June.
The show will open Friday, June 5 with a reception from 7 to 9:30 p.m. that the public is invited to attend.
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